Monday, December 8, 2014

35 signs you have severe asthma

So, how do you know if you are a severe asthmatic? First of all, we need a definition.

Severe Asthma: It's asthma that is not ideally responsive to conventional asthma medicines, often requiring more aggressive use of conventional medicines, or trials of medicines that are either experimental or not necessarily considered front line. It consists of about 5-10 percent of asthmatics. It's generally associated with mild, moderate, or severe shortness of breath that improves with therapy, but rarely completely. In other words, you may always be mildly or moderately short of breath, even after using your medicines. Synonyms: Severe Asthmatic, Gallant Asthmatic, Hardluck Asthmatic. Antonyms: Goofus Asthmatic.

So, now that we know what it is, how do you know you have it? First of all, you'll need to make sure you really have severe asthma, as compared with Goofus Asthma.

Find out if you are a Goofus Asthmatic here. If you pass that test, you can move on to the rest of this post.

Okay, so along with the usual laboratory testing and physician's assessment, the following are some indicators you might be a Severe Asthmatic (please note this is not scientific).

You are at least a tiny bit short of breath even on a good day

You use your rescue inhaler more than what is recommended, and your doctor knows it

Your pharmacist lectures you about using your rescue inhaler too much

You ask your doctor about excessive rescue inhaler use, and he says, "What choice do you have?"

On a good day, you can exhale for a prolonged period of time

You are still at least a little short of breath after using your rescue inhaler

Your doctor increases the strength of your inhaled corticosteroid

Your doctor prescribes systemic steroids at least once per year

You are short of breath and can still function

You become adept at feigning that you are not short of breath

You know your asthma triggers better than your friends on Facebook

You say the following to each new doctor who treats you: "My asthma isn't like everyone elses."

You take more than two asthma medicines a day

You take medicines to treat the side effects of asthma medicines

You're short of breath and still have more empathy for others than yourself

You start using your rescue inhaler in public places, not caring who sees you

You start telling everyone you meet about your asthma

You had really bad childhood asthma

Along with asthma, you also have really bad allergies

You skip calling your doctor and go right to the ER on a gut feeling

You skip calling your doctor and go right to the ER so you can get systemic steroids started NOW!

A doctor unfamiliar with your case says, "If you need to use your Albuterol every hour, you need to come to the ER."

A feeling of joy rushes through your veins as your wife says to the doctor in #25: "Look! Rick has bad asthma all his life. He even spent 6 months at a research hospital once. He uses his rescue inhaler every 4 hours on a good day. If he came to the ER every time he used it every hour, he'd be here every day."

You know you should go to the emergency room, but you don't want to wake your wife (parents) up

You have to see a doctor more than twice in a year

You have more than one unscheduled doctor visit in a year

You make frequent ER visits for your asthma

You know the names of all the nurses and respiratory therapists at your local hospital

You have more than one nebulizer, sometimes one in various rooms, and maybe even one in your car